complex person. She’s very intelligent, but she does have her irrational
moments.’
‘It might be best if I avoided her, then. I’ll travel on horseback from
now on. Our close proximity in that carriage exacerbates her dislike, I
expect. I’ve worked with people who’ve disliked me in the past and it’s no
great inconvenience. When I have leisure, I’ll win her over.’ He flashed a
quick smile. ‘I can be very winning when I set my mind to it.’ He looked on
down the gorge where the rapids swirled and foamed white in the gathering
darkness. ‘is there any possibility that you might be able to retrieve the
Bhelliom, Prince Sparhawk?’ he asked gravely. ‘i’m afraid we’re at a
distinct disadvantage without it. We need something powerful enough to
achieve some measure of parity with a group of Gods. Are you at liberty to
tell me where you were when you threw it into the sea? I might be able to
aid you in its retrieval.’
‘There weren’t any restrictions placed on me about discussing it, learned
one,’ Sparhawk replied ruefully. ‘There wasn’t any need for that, since I
haven’t got the foggiest idea of where it was. Aphrael chose the spot, and
she very carefully arranged things so that we couldn’t identify the place.
You might ask her, but I’m fairly sure she won’t tell you.’ Zalasta smiled.
‘She is a bit whimsical, isn’t she?’ he said. ‘We all loved her in spite of
that, however.’
‘That’s right you grew up in the same village with her and Sephrenia,
didn’t you?’
‘Oh, yes. I am proud to call them my friends. It was very stimulating
trying to keep up with Aphrael. She had a very agile mind. Did she give you
any reason for her desire to keep the location a secret?’
‘Not in so many words, but I think she felt that the jewel was far too
dangerous to be loosed in the world. It’s even more eternal than the Gods
themselves, and probably more powerful. I can’t pretend to even begin to
understand where it originated, but it seems to be one of those elemental
spirits that are involved in the creation of the universe.’ Sparhawk
smiled. ‘That gave me quite a turn when I found out about it. I was
carrying something that could create whole suns not six inches from my
heart. I think I can understand Aphrael’s concern about the Bhelliom,
though. She told us once that the Gods can only see the future imperfectly,
and she couldn’t really see what might happen if the Bhelliom fell into the
wrong hands. She and I took a very real chance of destroying the world to
keep it out of the hands of Azash. She wanted to put it where nobody could
ever use it again.’
‘Her thinking is faulty, Prince Sparhawk.’
‘I wouldn’t tell her that, if I were you. She might take it as criticism.’
Zalasta smiled. ‘She knows me, so she’s not upset when I criticise her. If,
as you say, the Bhelliom’s one of those energies that’s involved in the
constructing of the universe, it must be allowed to continue its work. The
universe will be flawed if it is not.’
‘She said that this world won’t last forever,’ Sparhawk shrugged. ‘in
time, it’ll be destroyed, and Bhelliom will be freed. The mind sort of
shudders away from the notion, but I gather that the space of time
stretching from the moment Bhelliom was trapped on this world until the
moment the world burns away when our sun explodes is no more than the
blinking of an eye to the spirit which inhabits it.’
‘I sort of choke on the notions of eternity and infinity myself, Prince
Sparhawk,’ Zalasta admitted. I think we’ll have to accept the notion that
Bhelliom’s lost for good, learned one,’ Sparhawk told him. ‘We’re at a
disadvantage, certainly, but I don’t see any help for it. We’re going to
have to deal with this situation ourselves, I’m afraid.’ Zalasta sighed.,
‘You may be right, Prince Sparhawk, but we really need the Bhelliom. Our
success or failure may hinge on that stone. I think we should concentrate
our efforts on Sephrenia. We must persuade her to intercede with Aphrael.
She has an enormous influence on her sister.’
‘Yes,’ Sparhawk agreed. ‘I’ve noticed that. What were they like as
children?’ Zalasta looked up into the gathering darkness. ‘Our village
changed a great deal when Aphrael was born,’ he reminisced. ‘We knew at
once that she was no ordinary child. The Younger Gods are all very fond of
her. Of all of them, she is the only child, and they’ve spoiled her
outrageously over the aeons.’ He smiled faintly. ‘She’s perfected the art
of being a child. All children are lovable, but Aphrael is so skilled at
making people love her that she can melt the hardest of hearts. The Gods
always get what they want, but Aphrael makes us do what she wants out of
love.’
‘I’ve noticed that.’ Sparhawk said wryly. ‘Sephrenia was about nine when
her sister was born, and from the moment she first saw the Child-Goddess,
she committed her entire life to her service.’ There was a strange note of
pain in the magician’s voice as he said it. ‘Aphrael seemed to have almost
no infancy,’ he continued. ‘She was born with the ability to speak – or so
it seemed – and she was walking in an incredibly short period of time. It
was not convenient for her to go through a normal babyhood, so she simply
stepped over such things as teething and learning to crawl. She wanted to
be a child, not a baby. I was several years older than Sephrenia and
already deep into my studies, but I did observe them rather closely. It’s
not often that one has the opportunity to watch a God grow up.’
‘Very rare,’ Sparhawk agreed. Zalasta smiled. ‘Sephrenia spent every
moment with her sister. It was obvious from the very beginning that there
was a special bond between them. It’s one of Aphrael’s peculiarities that
she adopts the subservient position of a young child. She’s a Goddess, and
she could command, but she doesn’t. She almost seems to enjoy being
scolded. She’s obedient – when it suits her to be – but every’ so often
she’ll do something outrageously impossible – probably just to remind
people who she really is.’ Sparhawk remembered the swarm of fairies
pollinating the flowers in the palace garden in Cimmura. ‘Sephrenia was a
sensible child who always acted older than her years. I suspect Aphrael of
preparing her sister ‘ for a lifelong task even before she herself was
born. In a very real sense, Sephrenia became Aphrael’s mother. She cared
for her, fed her, bathed her although that occasioned some truly stupendous
arguments. Aphrael absolutely hates to be bathed – and she really doesn’t
need it, since she can make dirt go away ~,’.whenever she wants to. I don’t
know if you noticed it, but her feet always have grass-stains on them, even
when she’s in a place where there is no grass. For some reason I can’t
begin to fathom, she seems to need those stains.’ The Styric sighed. ‘When
Aphrael was about six or so, Sephrenia was obliged to become her mother in
fact. The three of us were off in the forest, and while we were gone, a mob
of drunken Elene peasants attacked our vilage and killed everyone there.’
Sparhawk drew in his breath sharply. ‘That explains a (few things,’ he
said. ‘Of course it raises other things ‘even more incomprehensible. After
a tragedy like that, what could ever have persuaded Sephrenia to take on
the chore of training generations of Pandion Knights?’.’
‘afrael probably told her to,’ Zalasta shrugged. ‘Don’t make any mistakes,
Prince Sparhawk. Aphrael may pretend to be a child, but in truth she is
not. She will obey when it suits her, but never forget that she is the one
who makes the ultimate decisions, and she always gets what she wants.’
‘What happened after your village was destroyed?’ Sparhawk asked. ‘We
wandered for a time in the forest, and then another Styric village took us
in. As soon as I was sure that the girls were settled in and safe, I left
to pursue my studies. I didn’t see ‘them again for many years, and when I
finally met them again, Sephrenia was the beautiful woman she is now.
Aphrael, however, was still a child, not a day older than she had been when
I left them.’ He sighed again. ‘The time we spent together when we were
children was the happiest of my life. The memory of that time strengthens
and sustains me when I am troubled.’ He looked up toward the sky where the
first stars were beginning to come out. ‘Please make my excuses, Prince
Sparhawk. I think I’d like to be alone with my memories tonight.’
‘I will, Zalasta,’ Sparhawk replied, laying a friendly